Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon speaks at a news conference during CES 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 4, 2022.
Steve Marcus | Reuters
Qualcomm reported first-quarter earnings Wednesday, beating analyst expectations for revenue and guidance, and offering a strong outlook for its fiscal second quarter.
However, Qualcomm stock fell over 8% at one point during extended trading on Wednesday before recovering to a decrease of about 2%. It rose 6.25% during trading on Wednesday before the results were released.
Qualcomm posted its earnings report at the same time as Meta (Facebook), which sparked a sell-off in tech shares after the market closed.
Here’s how Qualcomm did versus Refinitiv consensus expectations for the quarter ending Dec. 26:
- EPS: $3.23, adjusted, vs. $3.01 expected, up 49% year-over-year
- Revenue: $10.7 billion, adjusted, vs. $10.42 billion expected, up 30% year-over-year.
Qualcomm said it expected between $10.2 billion and $11 billion in sales in the upcoming quarter, ahead of analyst estimates of $9.6 billion.
QCT, Qualcomm’s chip business, reported $8.85 billion in sales, up 35% from the same quarter last year. However, growth slowed from the 63% it reported during the same quarter last year.
Qualcomm breaks down its chip division into four categories, all of which rose during the quarter. The increase in revenue was primarily driven by a 42% rise in handset chip sales to $5.98 billion.
The company said that annual growth was 60% for its Snapdragon chipsets, the parts at the heart of Android phones that combine processing and 5G connectivity.
Diversifying the number of markets its chips sell into is a priority for Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon. Sales of chips for cars, Qualcomm’s automotive business, also rose 21% to 256 million. Its IoT division, which focuses on low-power chips, increased sales 41% to $1.48 billion.
RF front-end, a division which focuses on chips needed for wireless connectivity, rose 7% to $1.13 billion. The division grew 76% in Qualcomm’s fiscal 2021.
QTL, the company’s profitable technology licensing division, increased 10% year-over-year to $1.81 billion in revenue.
Qualcomm warned that it hadn’t factored in gains from its QSI investment division into its GAAP earnings forecast for the second quarter because of market volatility. Qualcomm said that QSI contributed $0.10 to its GAAP earnings per share during the quarter.
Qualcomm said it repurchased $1.2 billion in shares during the quarter and issued $765 million in dividends.
